FLAMES WIN THE BATTLE

Oilers can’t overcome 1-0 lead

The quotes in the morning all had the same theme.

Big was part of every Calgary Flames player’s TV sound bite.

“Big game, really big game, we need this in a big way.”

So, on a night when the Flames, with their noses pushed firmly outside the playoff glass, had to beat the Edmonton Oilers, they got the job done on the broad shoulders of their goalie Mike Smith.

With a new paint job on his mask and some old-style diving heroics, Smith made two huge stops on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid early in the third, on the heels of a tremendous mitt stop on Ryan Strome late in the second to blank the Edmonton Oilers 1-0.

If he was rusty against the New York Islanders on Sunday in his first game in a month since suffering a leg injury, Smith stole this one for the Flames, who came in having lost seven straight to Edmonton.

Oilers goalie Cam Talbot was almost as good as Smith, only giving up Johnny Gaudreau’s nifty backhand goal five minutes into the second period. Talbot made an excellent save on Dougie Hamilton in the third to keep the Oilers in it.

Smith looked like his team’s MVP from start to finish as the Flames remained two points out of a wild-card spot (Dallas and Colorado) in the West.

Gaudreau lifted a quick no-look backhand under the crossbar on Talbot when Darnell Nurse got pulled toward to the blue line and Sean Monahan slipped the puck past the Oilers defenceman to Gaudreau, who was left alone.

The Oilers thought they had scored in the opening period when Zack Kassian jammed the puck past Smith 14 minutes in. But referee Tom Chmielewski said he had blown his whistle to stop play before the puck crossed the line. It was under Smith’s pad as Kassian poked away.

On the bench: There was a moment of silence for former Atlanta/Calgary Flames’ winger Ken Houston, who died of cancer at 64 … The Flames didn’t have winger Matthew Tkachuk, who was out with a possible concussion.